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1 Kings 20 · a question people ask

What was wrong with letting Ben Hadad go?

In the text

The chapter gives the reason in one place only, the LORD's word by the prophet: "Because you have let go out of your hand the man whom I had devoted to destruction, therefore your life will take the place of his life, and your people take the place of his people" (20:42) (tap devoted). It doesn't say when the LORD had devoted Ben Hadad to destruction, or how Ahab was to know it. What it does record is the LORD's word before the battle, "I will deliver all this great multitude into your hand" (20:28), and that Ahab "made a covenant with him and let him go" (20:34). Nor does the chapter give Ahab's reason. It gives only what was said: Ben Hadad's servants spoke of "merciful kings" (20:31), Ahab said, "He is my brother" (20:32), and Ben Hadad offered cities and streets in Damascus (20:34). These notes don't go beyond 20:42.

The verses

“He said to him, “The LORD says, ‘Because you have let go out of your hand the man whom I had devoted to destruction, therefore your life will take the place of his life, and your people take the place of his people.’””
1 Kings 20:42 · World English Bible
“A man of God came near and spoke to the king of Israel, and said, “The LORD says, ‘Because the Syrians have said, “The LORD is a god of the hills, but he is not a god of the valleys,” therefore I will deliver all this great multitude into your hand, and you shall know that I am the LORD.’””
1 Kings 20:28 · World English Bible

From Favor's study of 1 Kings 20

1 Kings 20: You yourself have decided it

The prophet's story made Ahab give his own sentence: "You yourself have decided it" (20:40). And the verdict turned on a word the LORD had used twice, "into your hand" (20:13, 20:28): Ahab let go "out of your hand the man whom I had devoted to destruction" (20:42).

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Scripture quotations are from the World English Bible, which is in the public domain. Every answer cites the verses it rests on. What we believe · All Bible questions